RBI Guv Shaktikanta Das emphasises on need to eliminate biases in algorithms

The Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday said that the central bank is focusing on enhancing capacity in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques and analysing unstructured textual data by using the cutting edge system.

"While doing so, ethical considerations need to be addressed and biases in algorithms need to be eliminated," Das said while delivering a speech on the occasion of the 18th Statistics Day at the Mint Road.

"In the Reserve Bank, we have ventured into AI/ML analytics in multiple areas. Under the Reserve Bank’s aspirational goals for RBI@100, we aim to develop cutting edge systems for high frequency and real-time data monitoring and analysis," the Governor said, addressing the central bank's statisticians and economists.


The Statistics Day event coincides with the birth anniversary of Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, who is considered as the father of statistics in India.

Use of AI raises the risks concerning data privacy and security as well as unethical practices like plagiarism, copyright infringements and misinformation and invites attention from policymakers across the globe.

Das also said that the central bank is making efforts to harness the availability of huge computing power and growing digital footprints to analyse measures of expectations, sentiment indicators and policy credibility measures from alternative data sources even as the country is moving from an era of data scarcity to data abundance.

"Data management systems need to keep pace with the use of unconventional data sources as policy inputs. While doing so, we have to be mindful of the importance of eliminating noise and capturing the signals from high frequency indicators," Das said.

Last year at the same platform, RBI launched the Centralised Information Management System. Scheduled commercial banks, urban co-operative banks and non-banking financial companies have been onboarded for reporting on the new portal.

The RBI plans to refine the CIMS further as an integral part of its mission to constantly improve the quality of statistics, Das said. "The new CIMS is also facilitating research on the Indian economy, minimising reporting burden, exploiting the technological advances and improving the experience of both data providers and users," he added.

The Governor also mentioned that next year will be significant for compilation of official statistics the world over. Global efforts are expected to culminate in new global standards for compilation of macroeconomic statistics, especially for national accounts and balance of payments.